Music Issue 2013: TMI (Tour Manager Information)

You’ve met the four musicians who perform as Houndmouth. Now, meet their tour manager. “You would think being in a band is as simple as showing up to a venue, setting up your instruments and playing a gig,” says Jason Gwin, “but that is only scratching the surface of what goes into these huge productions.”

He says the band’s daily schedule roughly follows this routine:

9 a.m.: Lobby call

10 a.m.: Breakfast

11 a.m.: Hit the road

4:30 p.m.: Load-in

5 p.m.: Soundcheck

LEO: What do you do?

Advertisement

Jason Gwin: My daily duties are very detailed-oriented, mainly because each day on tour you have to follow a strict schedule. I get all of the contacts from each venue and the other bands we are touring with. I contact them to give a heads-up on advance details of the show: load-in, soundcheck, the time of the show and tons of other information important for making a show happen. I will take all of this information and compile it into the tour book that helps plan out our entire tour.

LEO:What’s the most fun for you?

JG: Routing the tour is always the most fun part. I map out our trip from show to show … if you are in New York City and your next show is in Toronto, the next day, that is a nine-hour drive. I will have to make the call to drive a couple hours after the show that night, get a hotel, and then drive the rest of the way the next day in order to make load-in.

Another job as a TM is getting in touch with the immigration folks in other countries to get work permits. That makes crossing the border a lot smoother. The first time we went to Canada, I had no idea you needed all this information. We got stopped for over an hour … now, when I see we have a stop in Canada, I will get that paperwork lined up immediately to avoid the fiasco we encountered our first time.

LEO:What’s the worst part of the job?

JG: When you get down to it, the job of being a TM is to take all the stressful elements of touring off of the band, letting them only worry about playing their show each night. I would be lying if I said being a TM is not stressful; drive a van and trailer around New York City for an hour looking for parking and let me know what you think. This job is not for everyone. It is a seven-days-a-week job, and you can be gone from home for weeks, maybe even months.

In the past year, I have been more places than some people will go in their entire life. I am very grateful for that, and also very grateful to have the opportunity to work with Houndmouth. At the end of the day, I am not only their tour manager but also a huge fan of them as musicians and as people, which makes me feel good to be involved in any way I can with their continued success.

Did someone mention the NBA again. I suggest you look at Indianapolis and the situation they have been in with the Pacers for the last 10 years. Cant afford to keep them, cant afford to get rid of them.

E-Mail Newsletter

Join our e-mail list to receive LEO exclusives and special offers on tickets and giveaways.

Email Address

This iframe contains the logic required to handle AJAX powered Gravity Forms.
* No spam, we promise. Unsubscribe any time.